Here Is Every Western Literary Movement in History Summed up with Single Sentences

Are you a history and literature buff?

Well, whether you do (and will know what we’re talking about here and probably feel a bit superior about the whole thing) or don’t (who has time for that stuff, anyway?) there’s a good chance you’ll get a chuckle out of these “layman’s” summaries of histories literary movements.

Courtesy of World Circus.

Please. Enjoy.

Old English

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Middle English

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Elizabethan

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Jacobean

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Late Renaissance

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Age of Enlightenment

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Sturm und Drang

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Romanticism

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Victorian

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Transcendentalism

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Gothic Literature

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Post-Colonialism

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Literature of the Absurd

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Realism

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The Beat Generation

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The Lost Generation

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The Harlem Renaissance

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Modernist

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Surrealism

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Post-Modernism

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Magical Realism

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There you have it – don’t you feel smarter now? I know I do!

The post Here Is Every Western Literary Movement in History Summed up with Single Sentences appeared first on UberFacts.

10 Simple Ways You Can Help out the Environment

There are always little things you can do to help out the environment. Even if they seem inconsequential to you, taking small steps adds up – especially when countless other people are out there doing the same thing.

So try to implement these habits into your daily lives, and we’ll all be better for it in the long run.

Cause we’ve got a crisis on our hands, and every little bit helps.

1. Turn down the brightness on your monitor.

Desk Upgrade

You can save up to 20% of your monitor’s energy just by adjusting your brightness from 100% to 70%. Go on and do it now…I’ll wait.

2. Think about your music streaming.

Headphones

A study says that today’s music streaming might produce up to double the greenhouse gas emissions as compared to music streaming in the early part of this century. Consider downloading music instead of streaming and do a little research about which streaming companies use cleaner energy.

3. Streaming devices are important, too.

RCS_7989 - IPad - Game Changer

A gaming console might use 30 to 45 times as much power to stream a movie than a regular media player.

4. Order more.

Package

If you buy things online, order more than one item at a time. This cuts down on delivery and packaging in the long run.

5. Search engines matter.

Search engine optimization

Different search engines give back to the environment in different ways. For instance, Ecosia donates ad revenue to plant trees and, according to their website, they run net carbon negative. Do some research and see which ones are doing green work.

6. Unplug it.

Apple...Unplugged

When you’re not using your charger, unplug it. Simple as that. Phone and laptop chargers draw electricity even if you’re not actively charging a device, so give those breakers…a break.

7. Or use a surge protector.

Surge protector

Surge protectors with an On/Off switch are a good option too for those hard-to-reach plugs.

8. Get on that bike.

Kamilah on a Bike

Biking may actually be faster than driving a car in some American cities, so hop on that bicycle of yours to get to where you’re headed.

9. Spam is bad.

email-spam

Roughly 62 TRILLION spam emails are sent each year. Something you may not think about often: sending email actually has a carbon footprint from servers working. Which means those spam emails equal about 20 tons of CO2 each year. So go ahead and hit the “Unsubscribe” button, please.

10. Buy used and vintage clothes.

Thrift Store

According to The Economist, “From the pesticides poured on cotton fields to the washes in which denim is dunked, making 1kg of fabric generates 23kg of greenhouse gases on average.” Seems like kind of a waste, doesn’t it? So consider heading to the thrift store instead of grabbing a new flannel.

 

Give us some of your tips as well in the comments!

We’re in this together, so let’s all do our part, okay?

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Playgrounds for Elderly People Increase Activity and Decrease Loneliness

As people get older, they become more isolated. After all, it’s just harder to get out an about, and the people you know have the same trouble.

It’s also a face that often times aging people exercise less, if at all.

So how do we solve the problem? Playgrounds!

I have yet to see one of these in person, but I have to say, I think this is an amazing idea.

The phenomenon of playgrounds for adults is still kind of new in the United States, but the original concept dates back to 1995 in China.

They proved to be very popular in China, and soon spread across the globe to Europe, Canada, Japan, and the U.S. The trend has become especially popular in Spain, where the city of Barcelona alone has more than 300 adult playgrounds.

Playgrounds for older adults feature low-impact exercise equipment that’s designed to improve flexibility, balance, and core strength among users, all key attributes that undoubtedly lead to better overall well-being for elderly people who take advantage of these spaces. Some of the parks even feature group exercise classes so older folks don’t have to work up a sweat all by themselves – plus, they get the opportunity to meet people.

Cedric X. Bryant, president and chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise, says, “[Playgrounds for elders] focus on promoting balance, flexibility, and range of motion, all of which can help with the functional capabilities of older people and allow them to do more of the things they want to do.”

Some park are strictly for adults, while some allow seniors to play along with their grandchildren. Right now, there are 53 “multigenerational” parks in the United States.

Here’s a video of some older folks taking advantage of such a park in Colorado.

I’d like to see these all over the country!

No, all over the world!

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People Who Wish for More Self-Control Actually Wind up with Less. Here’s Why.

I have some bad news for people who desperately need more self-control in their lives. Research shows that wishing for more self-control actually has the opposite effect.

In a 2017 study, psychologists measured participants’ desire to increase their self-control. Then the volunteers rated their current level of self-control. Lastly, they had to complete either an easy or a difficult assignment.

The volunteers who performed best on the challenging assignment were the least likely to say that they wanted to have more self-control. Those who did the worst were the most likely to wish for more self-control.

The desire for self-control had no effect on the volunteers’ performance on the easy assignment.

Photo Credit: iStock

These results could simply demonstrate that people with a lot of self-control perform better on hard tasks — they don’t wish for more self-control because they already have it.

But in a follow-up experiment, the psychologists managed to manipulate people’s desire for more self-control by asking them to write an essay about why self-control was a good thing OR how it could cause problems. This time, those who were prompted to see self-control as desirable performed worse on the difficult task. Those who were prompted to see self-control as problematic performed much better.

Consciously wishing for more self-control may seem like a positive thing — how are you supposed to become more disciplined unless you try? But in reality, this desire makes you focus on what you don’t already have, psyching you out in the process.

Photo Credit: iStock

So instead of just passively wishing for more self-control, try taking concrete steps to accomplish the specific things that you want to accomplish. For example, don’t just think to yourself, “I wish I had the self-control not to check Instagram every day” – actually install an app on your phone to limit your social media use.

The researchers also recommend reframing your thinking. Self-control isn’t something that people simply have or don’t have. It’s an unlimited resource, and you can tap into it at any time, regardless of what you’ve done before.

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20 Literal Translations That Might Make You LOL

Have you ever tried to learn a foreign language? Then you likely realized – quickly – that knowing vocabulary and verb tenses is only part of becoming truly bilingual. Every language has idioms and sayings that are quirky and unique (some even vary by region!) that you have to figure out before people will make total sense when they talk.

Because some of the literal translations of those idioms? Hilarious, even if they do make a weird sort of sense!

Facebook group Monolinguals are the worst encouraged its members to share the funniest literal translations they know, and…y’all. Prepare to be amused.

20. There are wide range of how people think about ladybugs.

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19. Think of it as hair – that’s one way to save your diet.

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18. This mental image is just more than I can really compute.

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17. Annnnd now I want one more than ever.

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16. I don’t really get why, but it is funny.

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15. That is not at all appetizing.

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14. I know name calling is wrong but they kind of deserve it.

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13. An oddly accurate description.

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12. Without a thumb, but okay.

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11. It is quite delicious.

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10. Because he’s lying in wait I get it.

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9. That’s what it tastes like!

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8. The dove part is totally throwing me.

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7. They call them like they see them.

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6. Yes, yes that’s what it does so that’s what it is.

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5. You will find that Germans are very practical.

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4. I guess it depends on which side of this you’re on…

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3. I’m going to need someone to explain this to me.

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2. Let the uprising begin.

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1. You know what they used to do to witches, right?

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These renew my interest in learning another language.

Do you speak more than one? Do you have a favorite idiom that’s not totally translatable? Please share it in the comments!

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A Public Service Announcement Compares the Dangers of Kids Playing Football to Smoking

When I was growing up, parents didn’t think twice about letting their kids play organized football. I played myself for several years, and I never thought about any of the possible repercussions that came along with getting hit over and over again on the field.

But parents with young kids today, including several of my friends who now have children of their own, are adamant that they will never, ever let their children play football. And maybe there’s a good reason for that…

Letting kids play football has come under fire in recent years due to the knowledge about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the disease that many former football players and others have suffered from after receiving multiple head injuries. To make the point, the Concussion Legacy Foundation released a public service announcement comparing the long-term effects of kids playing football to children smoking cigarettes.

In the PSA, a young boy says, “Tackle football is like smoking. The younger I start, the longer I am exposed to danger. You wouldn’t let me smoke. When should I start tackling?”

A study reports that it’s the number of years spent playing football, not the number of head injuries a person suffers, that impacts the severity of CTE.

The PSA calls for parents to wait until their children are 14 years old to let them play tackle football. Take a look at the PSA below.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you let your kids play football or do you refuse?

Sound off in the comments.

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This Woman Made Her Grandmothers Her Flower Girls at Her Wedding

When planning a wedding, it’s important to focus not only on details that will make the day sweet and romantic and beautiful, but that will also represent who the bride and groom are as a couple as they begin their lives together.

Which sometimes means messing with a classic….

When it comes to choosing who will sprinkle flower petals on the ground at their feet, most brides go straight to any adorable little girls in their family – but not Tennessee bride Lyndsey Raby.

Instead, she bestowed the honor on the four grandmothers in her life.

With a combined age of 308, Lyndsey’s great-grandmother Kathleen (90), her grandmothers Wanda (76) and Betty (72), and her husband-to-be’s grandmother Joyce (70), were sure to be as wise as they were beautiful, and what bride couldn’t benefit from some well-timed advice on the day of her wedding?

The women wore matching pastel blue, sequined dresses for the event, and, unlike children, they didn’t try to steal the show (or start crying or back out at the last minute).

Photographer Natalie Caho shared some of the resulting photos on Instagram, along with a reminder that brides like Lyndsey are so lucky to have not only one, but multiple, grandparents present at a wedding.

“I’ve seen a lot of cute flower girls in my day…but these four gals take the cake,” Caho added.

(Click through to see more photos!)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Bride’s Side (@thebridesside) on


They really do, and it seems like Lyndsey has a good head on her shoulders and heart in her chest – a sure sign that all four of these women have done something right along the way.

Congrats to the happy couple!

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This Horse Doesn’t like Being Ridden, so He Plays Dead Until Riders Go Away

I might not know much at all about horses, but I never imagined they could be total drama queens.

Like this horse, who goes to great, Oscar-worthy lengths to avoid carrying people on his back.

 

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Of course, horses can be irritable. There are plenty of ill-tempered horses who aren’t the best at for riding. But Jingang really takes the cake.

He doesn’t buck or bite when someone gets on his back. Oh no…

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He just collapses and pretends that he’s died. Because, as everyone knows, you can’t ride a dead horse.

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Owner Frasisco Zalasar made a video compilation of Jingang avoiding work with his dramatic deaths, and the video has amassed a lot of views.

El caballo que se hace el muerto para que no le montén ??????

Posted by Frasisco Zalasar on Friday, October 4, 2019

I bet these views and likes spike on Monday mornings, when we can all identify with Jingang.

Image Credit: Facebook

Horses like this one must be how the phrase “horsing around” came to be – they’re quite good at it!

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A Man Paid off the Entire School Lunch Debt for 400 Kids in His Town

Children should never go hungry in the United States, but the sad fact is that it happens every day to thousands and thousands of kids. And sometimes we forget there are actually things we can do to help – but there are.

Andrew Levy, a real estate agent in Jupiter, Florida, decided to take things into his own hands after he saw a list detailing the outstanding lunch debt owed by 400 kids in 9 schools in his area.

The debt totaled $944.34, which is not so much, all things considered. Levy decided to pay the entire debt off for the kids and their families.

One man in Jupiter, Florida, decided that he could make a difference in his town by paying off the lunch debt for every child in the system.

Posted by 5NEWS on Monday, October 14, 2019

A woman in Jupiter named Angie Vyas-Knight got the ball rolling when she shared a post on Facebook talking about the school lunch issue and how kids were going hungry. She then got the local stats from the Palm Beach County school board and compiled a list outlining the debts. This list eventually reached Andrew Levy, who said, “I thought that’s crazy. Food is something you shouldn’t have to think about. Children shouldn’t learn hungry.”

After he paid off the debt, Levy started thinking about the issue in a bigger context. Levy realized that many more kids in his area, not just in Jupiter, need help paying for their school lunches. In fact, students in Palm Beach County, a district with more than 180,000 students, currently have an outstanding lunch debt of $50,000 .

Levy said, “I’m going to do either a GoFundMe page or a fundraising page that can raise money every quarter, so lunch debt never accumulates so that children never have to worry about a hot meal and parents never have to worry about paying the bill.”

If you want to help out, visit the district’s website to get more information.

Unfortunately, this is a major issue that many school districts have to address. We can only hope that more people like Andrew Levy will step up to the plate to help out the kids in need.

It’s called thinking BIG!

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This Man Studied Photography in Prison. He’s out Now and His Work Is Quite Impressive.

Every single person deserves a second chance in life, and Donato Di Camillo is definitely making the most of his opportunity.

Di Camillo found himself in and out of jail when he was younger, and he became very interested in photography when he was serving a sentence in a federal prison in Virginia. Di Camillo says, “I was always interested in magazines like National Geographic and LIFE. When I was a child I used to dream about being on adventures, exploring, always fascinated about other cultures in different parts of the world.”

He also said about his upbringing, “I was always interested. I was exposed to art early on. My uncle Dominic, he was an art director for many years before the computers took over. He was also a painter. He still is. He’s more like a Renaissance painter. We grew up in a four-tenement home, you know, so it was a close-knit family.”

Di Camillo was released from prison in 2012, and since then he’s dedicated himself to learning how to use a camera and to improving his art each and every day.

He takes a lot of wonderful photos of street scenes around New York, capturing a side of life that most people either ignore or tend to shy away from. He often focuses on people who are homeless and mentally ill.

Di Camillo says, “These people walk around, and they’re faceless. I feel that everybody deserves a face. I think we all relate to each other in one way or another, whether someone’s laying in the street or running a Fortune 500 company.”

Look for Di Camillo’s first book in 2020 and check out more of  his work on his Instagram page and his website.

Fantastic work.

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